It rained in the middle of the night in Billings; the bikes were wet in the morning, but the skies were clear. We packed, ate breakfast and were on the road by 7:30 am. We headed for Red Lodge, MT, the last gas stop before Cody. We had our cold weather clothes on. The heated jackets kept us warm all morning.

Beth had a couple of time-outs for mechanical difficulties. She smelled gasoline, so we stopped. I couldn’t find anything leaking under the tank. We suspect the gas cap wasn’t quite fully tightened. Then, just outside Red Lodge, one of her highway pegs fell off. We retrieved it and will look for a cap screw here in Cody.

Red Lodge is a resort town east of Yellowstone. We topped off the tanks at the gas station (the last between there and Cody or Yellowstone.)

The downtown street has old-fashioned stores and was decorated for the 4th.

The court hose looks new.

The road climbs steadily toward the mountains.

Once in the mountains the road switches back and forth as it scales the mountainside.

The views of the rugged slopes, snow fields, and lakes are spectacular.

The elevation at the top is about 10,991 ft. The temperature was very cold and there were some very brisk wind gusts. We didn’t linger at the pull-outs.

Once down the mountain we turned left on the Chief Joseph Highway. We stopped along the way at an RV park. They had a nice restaurant, so we had lunch.

The Chief Joseph is lots of fun to ride. There are braod sweepers and the the switchbacks are curved, not kinked.

There are plenty of overlooks.

And a sandstone outcropping

Right now we are waiting (2 hours) for our room and preparing this blog. Perhaps more later. If not, registration for the convention is tonight. The convention lasts three days.